Concrete holiness and place attachment: Christian Zionist agricultural volunteers in Samaria

Christian Zionism is a Protestant theology rooted in nineteenth-century Britain, advocating the return of Jews to the land of Israel as the fulfilment of God’s will and plan for the salvation of humanity. This article deals with the unique theology of the Christian Zionist group Hayovel, an organization dedicated to bringing Christian volunteers for agricultural work in the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Based on fieldwork conducted among Hayovel volunteers, this article offers an analysis of Hayovel’s theology of rootedness and faith in the religious significance of the land. In contrast to mainstream Evangelical Christianity, Hayovel emphasizes the importance of sacred space and attempts to construct an experience of concrete holiness through agricultural work and touring the region’s Biblical sites. Hayovel’s activity is described here as the construction and cultivation of the Israel as a spatial and spiritual core and as a place of potential refuge and as a reaction to the increasing detachment from space in the global era.

Influence of natural production conditions on efficient operation of wheel tractors

For the zones of “risky farming” characteristic of the Far East of the Russian Federation, the natural production conditions of the region are an important problem in preparing the soil for further basic agricultural work. So, when carrying out early spring agricultural work, due to presence of a solid underlying layer in the form of permafrost, they shall be completed in operational terms no more than 10 days, until the permafrost base thaws and the soil has not lost its bearing capacity. In addition, due to the peculiarities of the relief, the soil does not thaw equally in depth everywhere, which reduces the quality of field work and harrowing, as the most common operation, namely. This article provides theoretical and experimental studies on the adaptation of a wheeled tractor as part of a machine-tractor unit (MTU) used in harrowing to natural production conditions by installing a device that automatically regulates the load on the working body of the disc harrow or on the propellers of the energy device, depending on the conditions of use or the state of the motion surface.

Asymmetrical understandings of the value of time between Taiwanese Working Holiday Makers and the Australian government: Cultural exchange or serving time?

The impact temporary visa status has on the lives of migrants and their experience of time has been widely discussed. Fewer studies, however, focus discussion on the competing interpretations of the value of Working Holiday Makers’ (WHMs) time and the complexities of disruption and (un)certainties: more specifically the contrast between the value the Australian government places on time spent doing agricultural work in rural areas to become eligible for a second visa, and how this time is perceived by WHMs. This article seeks to fill this gap by comparing data drawn from the government’s rhetoric and interviews with Taiwanese WHMs who had worked in regional areas of Australia for three months. I argue that the government selectively highlights to prospective WHMs the value of cultural exchange and tourism (life-value) while downplaying the labor value (money-value) to WHMs’ time. Furthermore, the government and WHMs are not always talking about the same ‘time units’ (working time and holiday time) when applying these values. This article demonstrates that WHMs are conscious of how their time is spent and perceive the three months of specified work as being ‘suspended’, ‘immobile’, and ‘disrupted’, which undermines their life-values and migration flow in Australia.

Robust fuzzy sliding mode controller for a skid-steered vehicle subjected to friction variations

Skid-steered vehicles (SSV) are gaining huge importance in the market due to their applications like construction, agricultural work, material handling etc. The accuracy of performing such tasks require a robust control algorithm. The design of such controller is very challenging task due to external disturbances caused by wheel-ground interaction and aerodynamic effects. This paper proposes robust fractional and integral order fuzzy sliding mode controllers (FSMC, FFSMC) for a skid-steered vehicles with varying coefficient of friction and a displaced center of gravity (CG). FFSMC controller reduces the outcome of forces generated as a result of ground tire interaction during skidding and friction variations. The proposed controllers are implemented for a four-wheel SSV under high-speed turning motion. A simulation environment is constructed by implementing the SSV dynamics with wheel-road model and the performance of the proposed algorithms is tested. The simulation test is conducted for a Pioneer-3AT (P-3AT) robot SSV vehicle with displaced CG and variable coefficient of tires friction. Simulation results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed FFSMC algorithm in term of reduced state errors and minimum chattering. The proposed controller compensates the effect of different responses of the wheels generated as a result of variable CG. The chattering phenomenon generated by conventional SMCs is also minimized by fuzzy tuning approach.

A Suggested Model for Organizing the Relationships among Agricultural Extension, Research and Educational Institutions in The Sulaymani Governorate

This research aimed at a proposal to regulate the relationships among extension, research and educational agricultural institutions in Sulaymani Governorate, by diagnosing the personal variables of the respondents, and identifying the reality of organizing relationships between these institutions, leading to preparing a proposed model for organizing relations between them. The research population included the agricultural organizations represented by (Agricultural Extension Directorate, Agricultural Research Directorate, Agricultural Colleges and Institutes), and a proportional stratified random Sample of 15% was chosen from all organizations, the total of the instructor sample is 85 respondents. The proposed model was prepared according to the following procedures: literature and forms, expert observations, review of research and articles, conducting field visits, documents and records. 3 fields, 12 elements and 168 paragraphs were developed, all of which formed the initial formula of the model. The model was presented in its initial form to a group of experts in the field of agricultural extension and management, and after taking their observations into account; the model now includes 3 fields, 12 elements and 148 paragraphs. The research found that there is no process of organizing the relationships between the studied institutions, and showed that all respondents agreed on the paragraphs of the proposed model. And recommends its application in real agricultural work in Sulaymani province.

Taskscapes, Landscapes, and the Politics of Agricultural Production in Roman Mosaics

In recent years archaeologists have put forward explanations of the design and impact of mythological and allegorical scenes in mosaics as part of elite Roman visual culture. While scenes of labor have served as evidence to accompany archaeological data on rural life, depictions of labor have received comparatively less attention as part of Roman ideological structures. Through an analysis of mosaics of the imperial period, this article demonstrates the value of adapting Timothy Ingold’s concept of taskscape for understanding the elite strategies of cultural hegemony underlying depictions of agricultural work in Roman art and showcases an approach to the Roman economy rooted in this particular body of anthropological theory. Elites used a set of visual strategies, Roman taskscape features, to promote their ongoing control over agricultural production, a strategy that endured across the Roman world for generations.

Transition Periods in the Udmurt Folk Calendar and Their Spirits

The article investigates the perceptions of time based on lunar and solar cycles, seasonal changes in nature, and the rhythm of agricultural work. The key events of the annual cycle in the Udmurt calendar are winter (vozhodyr/uyvozho) and summer (invozhodyr) solstices. The winter solstice period (vozhodyr, lit: transition time, crossroads / crossroads of time, the time of vozho, the time of evil spirits) and the time of the summer solstice are described. The winter period is dedicated to the winter Christmas period from January 7th to January 19th, and includes the following components: gatherings with songs and games, divination, dressing up, and mumming. The article characterises the most important events, such as mumming and masking, as well as beliefs, rituals and prohibitions connected with the spirits of the transition time. The summer solstice is connected with the image of the Mother/Foremother Invozho (In(‘)vozho-mumy), that descends from heaven to earth at that time of year. During summer solstice period the Udmurt particularly venerated heavenly powers and held calendar festivals (gershyd, gerber, gyron-bydton) in order to glorify blooming nature and peasant farmer’s labour.